Republic of the Philippines

Department of Finance
Bureau of Customs
1099 Manila
January 22, 2016

CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER

NO.
Oi - .2.01lJ!

SUBJECT:

Advance Cargo Declaration, Inward Foreign Manifest and

Consolidated Cargo Manifest Rule

1. Objectives, -

1.1

To require Shipping Lines/ Ship Agents, Non- Vessel Operating

Common Carriers (NVOCCs), Freight Forwarders/ Cargo
Consolidators/
Co-loaders to electronically transmit cargo
information to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) within 24 hours after
the time of departure of carrying vessel from the port of origin, first
from the mother vessel or any vessel departing from the actual
exporting port of origin and finally, if any, from feeder vessel
destined to any importing port in the Philippines;

1.2

To make available to the different offices of the Bureau of Customs

(BOC) accurate data and information concerning vessels and
cargoes at the earliest possible time in order that said offices may
freely utilize the same for risk management, anti-terrorism, law
enforcement, and other related purposes;

1.3

To ensure that the Inward Foreign Manifest and Consolidated

Cargo Manifest are submitted in the prescribed form, with all the
required information of the Cargo Declaration, at the prescribed
time, and to the designated customs officials and offices;

1.4

To enable BOC to have advance information of cargoes destined to

the Philippines in order to track and trace the movement ..of cargoes
from the origin and evaluate the nature & degree of risk of incoming
shipments;

1.5

To enable the BOC to receive the required details and information

of incoming importations from the exporting country and exporter/
seller, thereby minimize the possibility of unscrupulous entities
engaging in altering the actual origin of the cargoes or other original
data elements of the cargo declaration and/or understating the
actual freight costs incurred before the. arrival of the cargoes in the
Philippines; and

1.6

In order to enable B0C to expedite the release of legitimate cargo

following its arrival in the Philippines.

2.

Scope. - This Order shall apply to both containerized and noncontainerized cargoes as well as to all Shipping Lines/ Ship Agents,
NVOCCs, and Freight Forwarders/ Cargo Consolidators/ Co-loaders
whose cargoes are ultimately destined to the Philippines.

3.

Glossary of Terms. terms are defined:

For the purposes of this Order, the following

3.1
Shipping Line - is a company owned by certain persons
engaged in the business that transports cargoes aboard ships or
vessels across oceans or seas.

3.2
Ship Agent - as enshrined by international maritime
convention, is primarily the servant of the master and owners of the
vessel or the "principal"; which acts as the local representative of
the principal, providing local knowledge and expertise and ensuring
that the principal's requirements are performed with utmost
efficiency & dispatch; and accordingly, which possesses the
capacity to be fully conversant with all the appropriate regulations
and requirements relating to the port, area or sector in which it
operates, to have a wide range of relevant contacts and be wellestablished to provide the level of service and support the principal
needs.

3.3
Feeder Vessel - is normally small in size compared to a
mother vessel, serving between smaller ports and major ports; in
other words, a feeder vessel either brings export cargoes from a
smaller port to the mother vessel berthed in a major port, or
receives import cargoes from the mother vessel at a major port for
transport to a smaller port.

3.4
Consolidated Shipment - two or more shipments from
several shippers which are assembled and consolidated at one
point of origin, each covered by individual house/forwarder's bill of
lading and consigned to consignees which are shipped together
under one master ocean bill of lading by a freight
forwarder/consolidator to break bulk agent at the port of destination
for delivery to their respective consignees.

3.5
Consolidated
Cargo Manifest (CCM) a true and
accurate manifest, of all the individual shipments. in the
consolidation destined and intended to be unloaded at a port entry
in the Philippines, submitted as rider to the inward foreign manifest
of the carrying vessel.

3.6
Non-Vessel Operation, Common Carrier (NVOCC) - a
carrier that does not operate the vessel by which the ocean

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transportation is provided, and is a shipper in its relationship with

an ocean common carrier but which issues bills of lading in its
name to shipper under its solicitation to whom it directly assumes
the liabilities and responsibilities of a carrier.

3.7
Freight Forwarder - is an agent who acts on behalf of
importers, exporters or other companies to organize the safe,
efficient and cost- effective transportation of goods; specializes in
arranging storage and shipping of goods; generally provides full
range of services including: tracking inland transportation,
preparation of shipping and export documents, warehousing,
booking cargo space, negotiating freight charges, freight
consolidation, cargo insurance, filing of insurance claims, document
delivery, deconsolidation and freight collection services and usually
also operates as NVOCC.

3.8
Cargo Consolidator - a foreign forwarder acting as an
NVOCC which, in the ordinary and usual course of its undertaking,
assembles and consolidates or provides for assembling and
consolidating such articles or performs or provides for the
performance of break-bulk and distributing operations with respect
to consolidated shipments, and is responsible for the transportation
of articles from the point of receipt to point of destination and
utilizes for the whole or any part of such transportation the services
of the ocean carrier.

3.9
Co-loader - a consolidator who cannot fully fill up a
container and utilizes the services of another consolidator (master
loader) to assume the responsibility of transporting cargoes from
named porUpoint of origin to named port/point of destination. Coloader acts as the shipper in its relationship to the master loader. It
could also refer to a shipping line using the services of another
shipping line for the transport of the former's cargo from the port of
origin to the port of destination.

3.10 Shipper - shall mean the owner or person for whose

account the ocean transportation of cargo is provided.

3.11 Consigneethe party appearing in the transport document

to whom delivery may be lawfully made in accordance with the
contact of carriage.

4.

Advance submission of Cargo Declaration, Inward Foreign Manifest

(IFM) and Consolidated Cargo Manifest (CCM) -

4.1
In case the containerized cargoes ultimately destined to the
Philippines are loaded to th.e mother vessel at the exporting port of origin
for intermediate discharge in the major main port and for later transport by
a feeder vessel to any importing port in the Philippines, both the

concerned Shipping Line/ Ship Agent and NVOCC/ Freight Forwarder/

Consolidator shall electronically submit Cargo Declaration, IFM & CCM to
the BOC within twenty four (24) hours from the time of departure of the
mother vessel from the actual exporting port of origin.

4.2
In case the containerized cargoes are transported by a feeder
vessel or any vessel with any port in the Philippines as the port of
discharge, the concerned Shipping Line / Ship Agent shall electronically
submit the IFM within twenty four (24) hours, and the CCM for NVOCC!
Freight Forwarders! Consolidator within thirty six (36) hours, from the time
of departure of the said vessel from the last port of call destined to any
importing port in the Philippines.

4.3
In case of non-containerized cargoes, the concerned Shipping Line!
Ship Agent shall electronically submit the IFM within twenty four (24)
hours, and the CCM by the NVOCC, if any, within thirty six (36) hours,
from the actual exporting port of origin.
4.4
Transmission shall be done thru the gateway of the BOC directly or
thru any of the Value Added Service Provider accredited by the BOC.

5.

Contents of Cargo Declaration and inward foreign Manifest (IFM) and

Consolidated Cargo Manifest (CCM). The following information must
appear in the IFM/CCM for each cargo listed therein:
5.1

Bill of lading number

5.2
Marks and numbers of cartons, drums, boxes, crates and others
forms of
protective packaging;
5.3
Container and seal number if containerized and initials FCl, if full
container
load, and lCl, if less container load.
5.4

Number of packages

5.5

Kinds of packages (cartons, boxes, crates, drums, etc.)

5.6

Contents of Description of Cargo

5.7

Shipper

5.8

Consignee

5.9

Gross weight in metric tons

5.10

Measurement in cubic meters

5.11

Port of Origin

5.12

Notify Party

5.13

Voyage Number

5.14

Carrier Identifier

5.15

IMO Number of the Vessel

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6.

Advance Submission

of IFM and CCM Sanctions in Case of Delay.

6.1
The IMF, in the case of shipping line and CCM in the case of
NVOCC/Cargo
Consolidator/Co-Loader/Breakbulk Agent shall be
submitted by the parties concerned to BOC (Attn: MISTG) electronically
twenty four (24) hours after departure of the carrying Vessel. Transmission
shall be done thru the gateway of the BOC directly or thru any of the Value
Added Service Provider accredited by the BOC.
6.2 The party failing to submit the required information within the period
as above prescribed shall be subject to the payment of imposable fines in
accordance with Section 2521 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the
Philippines (TCCP), as amended and all other applicable laws pertinent
thereto, without prejudice to whatever additional recourse the BOC may
pursue against the delinquent shipping line or NVOCC/Consolidator/CoLoader/Breakbulk Agent.

7.

Cargo Description. 7.1

Generic descriptions stated in the IFM of the carrying vessel such
as FAK (Freight All Kinds), general cargo and/or similar terminologies
shall not be allowed and shall be treated as incomplete information
penalized under Section 25211 of the TCCP unless in the form of a
consolidated cargo which shall be supported by the CCM submitted by the
NVOCC/Consolidator/Co-Ioader/Breakbulk
Agent to BOC under the
procedures prescribed in the succeeding sections of this Order.
7.2
In any case, cargo description in the IFM or CCM shall be precise
enough to enable BOC to identify the goods intended to be discharged in
the port and take preemptive action if warranted. Hence, vague
descriptions such as "chemicals", "foodstuffs", "electronics" should be
avoided.

8.

Submission of Supplemental Cargo Manifest. 8.1

Cargoes/containers not listed in the IFM but are otherwise recorded
in the Stowage Plan shall be covered by a Supplemental Manifest which
shall be submitted not later than forty-eight (48) hours from date of
discharge of the last package from the vessel.
8.2
For cargoes/containers not listed in the IFM and Stowage Plan, the
Supplemental Manifest must be submitted not later than twenty-four (24)
hour from date of discharge of last package.
8.3
Supplemental Manifest shall be submitted in hard copies and
electronic form within the period prescribed in this Order; otherwise, the
shipments subject of the Supplemental Manifest shall be considered
unmanifested and subject to seizure proceedings.

ISec.ZSZ1.Failure to Supply Requisite Manifest - If any vessel or aircraft enter or

departs from a port of entry without submitting the proper manifest to the customs
authorities, or shall enter of depart conveying unmanifested cargo other than as
stated in the next proceeding section hereof, such vessel or aircraft shall be fined in
a sum not less than ten thousand pesos (Php 10,000) but not exceeding thirty
thousand pesos (Php 30,000). The same fine shall be imposed upon any arriving or
departing vessel or aircraft if the master or pilot in command shall fail to deliver or
mail to the Commission on Audit" a true copy of the manifest of the incoming or
outgoing cargo as required by law.

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9.
Submission
of Hard Copies. Immediately upon arrival of the carrying
vessel, the shipping company, NVOCC, freight forwarder, cargo consolidator, or
their agents shall provide two (2) hard copies of the cargo manifest to the Bureau
of Customs.
10.
Additional
Rules and Regulations.
- The Commissioner of Customs
may issue additional rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this
Order.
11.
Repealing Clause. All Customs Memorandum Orders and other
issuances in conflict or inconsistent with this Order are hereby deemed revised,
amended or repealed accordingly.
12.

Effectivity.-

This order shall take effect immediately.

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ALBERT
Commissioner

APPROVED:

CE_RISIMA
Secretary of Finance
Date:
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D. L1NA"t'
of Custom